Merry Christmas!

I hope you have/have had/are having (choose your tense) as enjoyable a day as I have. Still have more to go though. Phone calls, cooking, all that jazz. But we had a successful morning and are enjoying our booty from Santa. Which is giving me an unexpected few minutes to blog.

Santa, you say? Aren’t your kids a little old for Santa? How have you pulled off the Santa ideal this late?

Well, it’s not easy, but with some planning, you too can bring your kids into double digits with Santa. You have to be somewhat dedicated to the cause though. One minor slip and it’s all over. I mean, I have kids that are digging through trash and setting up a surveillance system, so I have to be on my toes. Here are my steps for fostering a belief in Santa:

1. Encourage pretend play. This is a good parenting tip in general, but it helps with the Santa thing since they are using their imaginations.

2. Use technology to your advantage. Santa has email, a cell phone, and text messaging. He also outsources to the guys in the mall. Since these kids are used to the concept of FedEx and UPS, the concept of same day delivery is nothing new to them.

3. Never have Santa handwrite anything. Your kids know your handwriting, no matter how young they are. If you must have something handwritten, have a distant third party do it. Better yet, type everything. Especially gift tags. For an added modern touch, add a bar code. Again, since they are used to seeing this, and you’ve already convinced them that Santa uses technology, they won’t even blink when they see a bar code on their present.

4. Use the same paper for all Santa gifts, and never ever let them see the paper. I bought a ton of paper that I’ve been using for the past couple of years. It is well hidden away from other wrapping paper in the house. Every scrap that may fall or be left over from wrapping is taken directly to the outside trash bins so that it won’t be discovered.

5. And don’t forget the snacks, for both Santa and his reindeer. Reindeer are messy eaters, so sprinkling oats around the ground is a nice touch. They also like carrots, which need a little nibbling to get the right look.

mmmmm….snacks

freakin’ reindeer, such messy eaters…

Those are the basics. The best tip however, is consistency. Stay on message and you can make them believe anything. Just ask Karl Rove.

Even with all of my efforts, I’m thinking that this is the last year for Thing 1, the ten year old. Thing 2 tried to set up a surveillance camera, but he forgot to turn it on after he set it up and oh well. Better luck next year, Big Guy….

I have another thought coming from all of this….is all of this deception such a good idea? Or is it just fun? Too deep for today, so I’ll ponder it and come back to it soon.

Those are awesome tips!!! I’m all in favour of a little deception to maintain the magic of Christmas. So far my rugrats are still on board. I also keep the same paper hidden, we do the stockings, cookies and milk. This year the little guy came running into the kitchen with the empty milk glass in hand like it was a smoking gun – yup, Santa was here1I love the barcoding and type-written messages. Santa is too cool, keeping up with the times. You are too cute – looks like Christmas is going really well at your houshold! Keep enjoying the festivities!!!

I’ve done some of the same things — the wrapping paper only from Santa, the third-party writing. Now, if I could just keep my husband away from wrapping, we’ll make it through another year. We’ve lost the eldest — 11 — to the cause, but he’s caught onto the spirit of conspiracy, so the younger two are still safe.

Even after they catch on to your (very impressive) tactics, you can always do what my mom does… If you don’t play along and at least pretend to believe, you don’t receive! 🙂 I’m 30, my brother’s 24, but we still go to bed early on Christmas Eve, set out milk and cookies, and all the rest. 🙂